The Brazilian is now a contemporary to the famous duo and should be recognized for his talents

Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Infantino is coming along riding in his car… Okay, well, this is lame, but the implication here is that Ballon d’Or is on its way and there is quite some fanfare about it, as usual.

Though some don’t really believe in the award due to its individualistic nature, the fact is that this award plays a big role in the players’ minds. There is no player who wouldn’t want to be judged as the best player of the year by the football fraternity.

With the ceremony approaching, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the favourites to win the award – as usual – but there is a certain someone who has displayed himself as a contemporary of the duo: Neymar.

The Brazilian became the most expensive player in the history of the world when he moved to PSG earlier this summer, and has been exceptional ever since joining the team. That said, here are 5 reasons why the former Santos starlet should win the award:

#5 The stats speak for themselves

Neymar's numbers are simply astonishing

When you look at the Neymar’s number for this season, you will find it difficult to carry on with your life because replacing a jaw is never an easy thing to do. The number of surgeries that you will have to go through and the number of hours you will have to wear a jaw-support mask will be a bit stressful to start with.

In his first 17 games for Paris-Saint Germain, he has scored 15 goals and 9 assists. Indeed, the team has been built in such a way that everything goes through the Brazilian – he is the fulcrum of the attack, the go-to man.

At Barcelona, as Messi’s deputy, he often outshone the Argentine with his own radiance. In the 21 games that he played for the Blaugrana in 2017, he scored 11 times and conjured 10 assists to make sure that he had an influence in almost every game.